I believe it was Momma Gump who said, "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get." Forrest's mom must have had the Edmonton Oilers in mind when she coined that bit of wisdom.

That about sums up what we saw tonight as the Oilers, coming off a stretch of games that's been spotty at best, waltzed into the Scott Trade Center and beat the St. Louis Blues 3-0 to win in the Show Me State for the first time since 2009. Who saw that coming? Not me. I thought Ken Hitchcock's team would chew up Ralph Krueger's bunch and spit them out.

The opportunistic Oilers, backstopped by Nikolai Khabibulin, who made 43 saves for his 46th career shutout – again, who called that one? – not only beat the Blues on the heels of a disjointed effort in Nashville, they hung together and showed plenty of jam when St. Louis finally got revved up and picked up the physical pace.

The Oilers had goaltending, to say the least. The rink was tilted toward the Oilers end all night, but Khabibulin refused to budge. Speaking of stubborn, and every bit as important as the score, the Oilers showed plenty of push-back when the Blues, led by captain David Backes, tried to flex some muscle.

They got virtuoso performances from Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle, who looked as good as they have all season reunited with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins between them. Feeble attack side, everybody looked engaged. Where was this in Music City or against the Blues at Rexall Place Saturday?

Tough read, this bunch.

THE WAY I SEE IT

. . . There's been absolutely nothing not to like about Khabibulin in relief of Devan Dubnyk this season, but that doesn’t mean I want to see him carrying more of the load in the games that remain. Khabibulin started out last season red-hot, then the wheels came off. At this point in his career, he's best spotted in without being overworked.

What I wouldn’t mind seeing, and I think it's something that GM Steve Tambellini should consider, is re-signing Khabibulin as Dubnyk's back-up for next season. The price has to be right, of course, and I wouldn’t be looking at more than one year, but if Khabibulin can still get the job done as a back-up with limited duty, I'd offer him a contract. That said, between now and then, I'd certainly accept calls from teams looking for a veteran back-up before the trade deadline.

. . . When Hall, Eberle and Nugent-Hopkins play together, the Oilers are a better team, period. I understand why it's tempting for Krueger to split them up in the name of a more balanced attack, but if the second and third lines are wanting, then tinker with those units and leave the top line alone.

ONE LAST THING

Jason Gregor has been talking for some time about the Oilers needing to unload one of their young core forwards to change the mix in the top nine. I happen to agree with him on that. The question is, who moves to land a player who brings experience and a different dimension?

Gregor offered a scenario to Jason Strudwick today, asking if he'd be willing to trade Nail Yakupov for New Jersey's David Clarkson, assuming Clarkson was signed to a new contract – he's a pending UFA.

I said I'd do it in a heartbeat, which I would. Not because I don't think Yakupov will turn out to be a very good player, but because I think Clarkson would bring exactly what the Oilers need – grit and skill capable of playing significant minutes – and because if I HAD to part with one of the kids, it would be Yakupov before Hall, Eberle or Nugent-Hopkins.

That, of course, drew a lot of razz from kooks people on Twitter, who seem to think the Oilers can land impact players for spare parts and the rights to Linus Omark. While I blocked them respect their opinions, I'd roll the dice and make that move.

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On another note, would anyone here trade the make-up (mix of size, skill, goal tending and potential) of our team for the make up of anyone of: The New York Ranger, The Flyers, SanJose, or Tampa Bay?

The point I'm trying to make here is that their doesn't seem to really be a winning formula for a team year to year. Moreover, some teams that should be dominating due to their good 'on paper make-up' don't seem to have what it takes. Then there are teams that shouldn't be winning right now like Ottawa, who are. There isn't a team out there that looks at their roster and says, this team does not need an upgrade at any position. But at some point you have to look at a group and say, we can win with this group if we play a certain way. Though I don't think the Oilers are at that point yet, I think they are really close.

On another note, would anyone here trade the make-up (mix of size, skill, goal tending and potential) of our team for the make up of anyone of: The New York Ranger, The Flyers, SanJose, or Tampa Bay?

The point I'm trying to make here is that their doesn't seem to really be a winning formula for a team year to year. Moreover, some teams that should be dominating due to their good 'on paper make-up' don't seem to have what it takes. Then there are teams that shouldn't be winning right now like Ottawa, who are. There isn't a team out there that looks at their roster and says, this team does not need an upgrade at any position. But at some point you have to look at a group and say, we can win with this group if we play a certain way. Though I don't think the Oilers are at that point yet, I think they are really close.

The Oilers are a team of the future, not the present. You might make the Clarkson trade if the Oilers are on the verge of winning now, they aren't, so trading present value; Clarkson for future value; Yakupov makes no sense.

I think part of the reason for the venom I am reading is that most of the posters have not seen Clarkson play. They look at his stats and they are a little underwhelming. He's about the same size as Gagner, and he's had one and a half good seasons.

On paper he's not that great, although 30 goals in a season is a pretty great stat. He's no assist machine, though.

HOWEVER - The guy is very tenacious to watch. Similar to Cal Clutterbuck except he will fight and he can play on the top three lines for a few years. I don't think I would trade Yakupov for him.

One of the best hitting gritty forwards in the game is Dustin Brown, but you'll never get a guy like him out of LA. He's their captain. Backes is another one. Also the team captain. Iginla is another one. Also their captain. How about Landeskog? Would he fit in this category? Also their captain.

Yak for a signed Clarkson.....sure stirred things up....got a lot of thoughts and comments.

My sense is that we need not worry. Neither Yak or Hall or Ebbs or Nuge or J Schultz will be traded.

Also, chances are that any deal that gets done by next Tuesday will involve players not mentioned here. GM's have an advantage over us in that they get together and talk about wants and needs and creative ways to improve both teams. The Trade pool is deeper than the UFA list that we get focused on in blogs.

Still....it makes for interesting banter....YAK for Clarkson....not going to happen.

yakapov for clarkson? clarkson isn't that big and i'm pretty sure tambo is the only gm in the league dumb enough to actually make that trade, so please stop filling his head with this crap, it's bad enough tambo and lowe are trying to sink our team, but please guys let's not show them where the iceburgs are.

I agree with much of the sentiment. I think the reason why the Oilers aren't having an optimal rebuild so far are basically 4:

1. mismatch in styles between W. Conference and Oilers, not enough emphasis put on winning puck battles, they seemingly realized this just recently
2. lack of top end talent in the draft classes they held the top pick in (compared to previous years)
3. poor team composition, weak on C, D, G (part of this is really a result of 2.)
4. and the lack of identity and culture established by Tambo from the beggining

Did an in-depth analysis on those four points, and IMO while Tambo was hit with some stuff that was out of his control, he's also been rather disappointing as a GM.

Here if you want to read it in-depth: http://puckstorming.blogspot.com/2013/03/edmonton-oilers-state-of-rebuild.html

I dont think you trade Yakupov for Clarkson, but the principle behind it is correct. The Kings traded Patrick O'Sullivan for Justin Williams back in the day (yeah O'Sullivan bombed but at the time he was coming off a 20 goal season)

I dont think you trade Yakupov for Clarkson, but the principle behind it is correct. The Kings traded Patrick O'Sullivan for Justin Williams back in the day (yeah O'Sullivan bombed but at the time he was coming off a 20 goal season)

Poor comparison. Nobody ever considered O'Sullivan to be in the league of first overall picks; a small quick top-six forward maybe, but that's all. You have to raise the bar a lot higher than Clarkson to justify trading Yapupov.

One of the few times I've seen Gregor really get lamebasted on the Nation....but this one is deserved. I just shudder to think what the hockey world would have thought of the Oilers organization if Gary Bettman had announced on draft day that the Oilers had traded their No. 1 overall pick to the New Jersey Devils for David Clarkson.

This is precisely what I'm saying though. I made that comparison because it was a rebuilding team trading a young forward with potential who just scored 20 goals, nobody is saying O'Sullivan is Yakupov, obviously they should get something much better than Williams back, but the principle is the same. This is the type of trade that the Oilers should eventually make to address their needs.

One of the few times I've seen Gregor really get lamebasted on the Nation....but this one is deserved. I just shudder to think what the hockey world would have thought of the Oilers organization if Gary Bettman had announced on draft day that the Oilers had traded their No. 1 overall pick to the New Jersey Devils for David Clarkson.

I would like to point out, I to think the Oiler’s need to upgrade size with a little pugnaciousness, some truculence, but, This type of player (Clarkson) is not all that hard to obtain and certainly not worth a first overall pick or a possible franchise player, it far is too costly for a franchise to make these kinds of moves.

Not that hard to obtain, then how come the Oilers haven't got one for years.

Please name the players who can score 25-30 goals who are physical and can actually protect your skilled players, because they are good enough to play on their line.

You do know that Bozak is a small, skilled forward right, which is what the Oilers have. Brett Connolly hasn't played in the league and you think he's better than a 25-30 goal scorer. Same as Samuelsson. The only one of those who is as good or better than Clarkson is Stewart. I'd look at him, the rest aren't in Clarkson's class.

Ott is a great agitator, but he's an excellent 3rd line guy, not a regular top-six.

I apologize for the late response as I’m working night shift; I also apologize if anybody has mentioned this.

I guess concerns are this, your rewarding some of these players for a limited body of work.

This is the same philosophy the Oilers used to get themselves into a mess, and the same philosophy that got the Islanders into a mess.

Not to mention the Oilers have many, many holes not just top 6, while they need size up front they need size and skill everywhere.

So while you give up skill to get size you now have players who can’t score and you’re now in a repetitive cycle.

While being big is important since 2005, the Bruins were really the only team to have won with the likes of Lucic and Thornton in there line up.

While Lucic would be a terrific player his cap hit is also ridicules.

The other past cup winners used a combination of size, skill, team toughness to win.

My concerns with your players.

Wayne Simmons scored more than 20 once, he also not a top 6 forward.

Nathan Horton (past due date) will be a UFA next year; he is also one concussion away from retiring, this while putting up Yakupov like numbers this year.

Clarkson who is the same size as Tyler Bozak also, has only scored more the 20 once.

No issue with Hartnell, however Iginal is old and not worth Yakupov at this time.

I would much rather try for Evander Kane. I also used Ott as Belanger replacement.

As far as Connolly and Samuelsson, I see both those players being exceptional compliments to the skill the Oilers already have.